Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), winner of the 2019 Tour de France and 2021 Giro d’Italia, will end the season with a good feeling for returning to competition when he overcomes his serious accident in January 2022, but his challenge is regain your best level and show that you can talk about great achievements in Vingegaard, Pogacar or Evenepoel.
Bernal won the Tour de France as a 22-year-old in 2019 and triumphed in the Giro d’Italia in 2021 before a horrific training crash made cycling in 2022 a secondary consideration.
“The way I survived this accident was not normal, so above all, I am happy to be alive. In cycling we always think about being number one and winning the Tour de France, and I did the same before the accident. But when you realize that you’re a normal person and you can die, and you experience being in bed without being able to move, and all these things… I’m lucky,” Bernal told Cyclingnews.
Bernal was involved in an accident in January 2022 when he crashed into a stopped bus during training, sustaining multiple injuries and fractures that required multiple surgeries.
“When I woke up, I wasn’t worried about whether I’d be a cyclist again or not. I just want to move and be able to walk and have a normal life. “I think that’s why I don’t have any bad times mentally, because I know how lucky I was just to be alive.”
Bernal, who will participate in the Tour and Vuelta in 2023, admitted to finishing the course “physically and mentally exhausted”, but left the Spanish round happy and morale boosted.
“After the Vuelta, I felt good about what I did, and now I’m more confident for next year. I was very tired, but I enjoyed the Vuelta compared to the Tour. In the Tour I was running at full speed every day and I couldn’t enjoy the race. It’s not the best race to suffer because it’s very, very difficult,” he explained.
The 26-year-old cyclist from Cundinamarca does not dare to ensure that he will return to the level that led him to his great victories, but his mentality and daily actions aim to achieve it.
“I wake up every day thinking I’m going to get back to my best level. I want to have the mentality that I can be one of the best riders in the world, because otherwise I don’t think I’ll continue cycling professionally. “I’m just going to retire,” he said.
This is not due to enthusiasm and desire, because Bernal not only hopes to have the level of champion, but he can consider closing the circle of the greats by choosing for the Vuelta a España.
“When you’re with the best and you feel what it means to win a Tour, the Giro d’Italia and that there’s only one race like the Vuelta left… that motivates you, so “I really want to get back to that level and I’m working hard to reach it.”.
Looking ahead to next season, Bernal still doesn’t know his plan on the grand tours, but he will start the year with the Colombian National Championship and the Tour Colombia as goals to build confidence.
Compared to rivals such as Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), the Colombian cyclist admits that he is far from that level.
“Now this is something I can’t do, but I try to do my best to reach the best possible level. I don’t believe they have something I don’t have, nor do I have something they don’t. “All champions have that kind of mentality,” he said.
Source: La Verdad
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